yiff

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Interjection 1.2.1 Translations 1.3 Verb 1.3.1 Derived terms 1.3.2 Translations 1.4 Noun 1.4.1 Translations 1.5 Adjective 1.5.1 Translations 1.6 Usage notes 1.7 References 2 Middle English 2.1 Etymology 1 2.1.1 Conjunction 2.2 Etymology 2 2.2.1 Verb

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

Yiff was originally invented by the role-player ‘Foxen’ as part of a range of onomatopoeic words that form the fox-ese language of the furry role-playing community: yiff, yip, yerf, yaff, yarf, growf, and growlf (in order from most positive connotations to most negative connotations). Yiff meant yes or an exuberant hello!. Later, yiff was assigned a meaning of a sexual proposition, a meaning that had previously been assigned to yipp (a coarse form of yip).

Other claimed etymologies include:

• onomatopoeic word for the sound of a fox mating. This etymology is unsubstantiated and appears to be apocryphal.
• sense 3 of YIFF. This is apparently a backronym.

[edit] Interjection

yiff

1. (onomatopoeia) Representing a bark (of a fox.)
2. (furry jargon, interrogative) “Anyone willing/desiring to have sex?”
3. (furry jargon, interrogative) “Are you willing/desiring to have sex?”

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to yiff (third-person singular simple present yiffs, present participle yiffing, simple past and past participle yiffed)

1. (furry jargon) To have sex, to mate.
   • 1997-10-17, StarChaser, “What to genocide”, rec.games.roguelike.nethack^[1],

     Monsters snicker at me, succubi refuse to be seen with me, my dog tries to yiff my leg, shopkeepers say ‘No shirt, no shoes, no service’.

   • 1997-09-22, Locandez, “Hypothetical Question #3: acting natural”, alt.lifestyle.furry^[2],

     And even if foxes are allowed to yiff more than once, I’d still have to wait for the vixen to come into heat.

   • 1997-09-23, MegaDog the Nettweiler, “Hypothetical Question #3: acting natural”, alt.lifestyle.furry^[3],

     Well, i’ve witnessed male foxes queueing up to yiff one of my local vixens… repeatedly!

2. (slang, Internet) To have cybersex.
   • 1996-07-14, j.serdy, “RFC: A Beginner’s Guide to TinySex on the FurryMuck”, alt.fan.furry^[4],

     Of course the inverse is possible with all these possibilities, and you can be having a yiff with a partner in the room with you and be having a pleasant non-sexual conversation with another remote player through a page-conversation.

3. (slang, Internet) To talk, to chat in a chat room.

[edit] Derived terms

• yiffy
• yiffer
• yiffable

[edit] Translations

[edit] Noun

yiff (plural yiffs)

1. (furry jargon) Sexual intercourse, the act of yiffing.
2. (furry jargon) A bark, a “yiff”!

[edit] Translations

[edit] Adjective

yiff (comparative yiffer, superlative yiffest)

1. (furry jargon) sexy, sexual, arousing
2. (furry jargon) pornographic
   • 2003-08-09, Dr. Cat, “Hyper inflated art prices?!?!?!”, alt.fan.furry^[5],

     Of course if someone wants to pay a bunch of money for crappy yiff art sometimes too, well, that’s between them and the artist, ain’t it?

   • 2002-08-24, Pegasus316, “Lore Fitzgerald Sjöberg’s new site hits the Savage/furry issue”, alt.fan.furry^[6],

     Neither one of us does anything even remotely related to yiff art, and we intend to keep it that way.

3. (furry jargon) capable of sexual intercourse
4. (furry jargon) willing to have sexual intercourse

[edit] Translations

[edit] Usage notes

The term is not to be confused with the acronym YIFF, although a backronym has been created for that (sense 3) in an attempt to explain the etymology of yiff.

[edit] References

• "Yiff", A Furry Glossary
• Definition of "yiff", Furtopia
• LittleFox’s own explanation of the etymology of "Yiff", Everything2, accessed on 2005-03-30 (bottom of page)

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[edit] Middle English

[edit] Etymology 1

From Old English ġif.

[edit] Conjunction

yiff

1. if
   • (A date for this quote is being sought): John Lydgate Fall of Princes

     Yiff ther was lak, thou woldest crie & pleyne.

   • (A date for this quote is being sought): John Lydgate Fall of Princes

     And yiff that trust with pryncis wil nat tarie,
     Litil merueile thouh the peeple varie…

   • (A date for this quote is being sought): Geoffrey Chaucer

     […] That yiff that god that hevene and erthe made
     Wolde haue a love For beaute and goodness
     And womanhede and trouthe and semelynesse […]

[edit] Etymology 2

From Old English giefan.

[edit] Verb

yiff

1. give
   • 1393, Jean d’Arras Roman de Melusine

     Another ordre to you yiff I shall,
     A knyght will you mak of full hye degre
     As your brethren ben named ryght roiall.